Apostolos Tomaras
Three aircraft of the French Air Force have since Monday afterrnoon been stationed at the ‘Andreas Papandreou’ air base in Paphos. The presence of the warplanes at infrastructure of the Cyprus National Guard, is not, Kathimerini understands, related to the developing situation in the region.
The three warplanes – two Rafale fighter aircraft and two C 180 utility aircraft – took off from a French airport headed for Cyprus. According to military sources, the presence of the three French warplanes is related with the defence cooperation agreement signed by the two countries, and which was recently announced as being in force.
The same sources explained that the French warplanes are conducting trial flights testing the National Guard infrastructure in Paphos, but did not confirm that the French military aircraft are participating in other activities. Their departure is scheduled for Wednesday noon, but their course and destination remains unknown.
Helicopters
The Paphos air base also appears to be hosting Israeli helicopters. In fact, one of the helicopters was captured on video secured by “K” flying in a Paphos area. Informally, current information suggests that the Israeli helicopters were present in joint activities with the National Guard. However, the Defence Ministry stresses that there are no planned activities of any form until September.
